Dark Cut and Dark Cut 2 are surgery games where you use the mouse to make incisions, stitch, scrub, saw, whatever is required to save the patient in each case scenario. These are not games for the faint of heart, both in terms of graphics and gameplay; therefore, they are recommended for mature audiences only.

The Dark Cut series is a gory, more intense Web alternative to Trauma Center for the DS and Wii, with a historical premise. The first Dark Cut takes place in medieval times, while the second takes place in the Civil War. The medical tools you use fit the respective period in sickly humorous ways: whiskey for the 19th century, rose water for the middle ages (and you thought your HMO was bad).

Gameplay consists of clicking the mouse over stars that mark key points on the patient, and sometimes tapping the arrow keys to saw (Dark Cut 1). Instructions are given for each case, but the stress of a patient whose vitals are constantly dropping, coupled with abrasive sound effects in the background, makes for a difficult experience. For example, bandaging (Dark Cut 2) involves taking the mouse cursor to the eyeball in the upper right corner and circling around it. Go through all the steps of the procedure without killing the patient and you pass.

Analysis: The two games are interesting to compare, such that the first one gets some things right that the second one breaks, and vice versa. For example, having to select tools from a tray in Dark Cut 2 is cumbersome, both from the click detection and by having to visually identify the particular tool. Since there's no health boosting item as in Trauma Center, this selection handicap seems unnecessary. Conversely, the first Dark Cut simply hands you the item you need and is therefore a much more playable experience. Dark Cut 2, on the other hand, is a massive improvement in terms of production values and overall aesthetics: you really feel like you're a civil war surgeon trying to focus on saving a man's life with bourbon anesthetic, some gauze and a scalpel. You feel the dirt, sweat and blood and it succeeds as a phantasmic experience, beyond being merely fun; but, unfortunately, the interface gets in the way of the latter.

If you can handle the mire of pre-Modern health care, and the mire of taxing difficulty, the Dark Cut games will deliver a rare experience.

As usual, drug up your patient with a few shots of good old Deathwish Whiskey.

Use the Snips to cut the old bandages off the patient's leg.

Use the Scalpel and cut open the patient's first 'boil'.

Use the Forceps to pinch the maggots inside his leg.

One of the maggots will spray onto the screen (your face). Yech.

Use the Sponging Rag to wipe the remains of the larvae.

Use the Scalpel to open the second boil.

Pus will spray onto the screen again, at which you will move a hand up to wipe it off, along with the maggot's guts earlier. If you notice closely enough, you'll see blood on your fingers

Use the Sponging Rag to wipe the excess pus off.

Use the Syringe to extract the remaining pus in the second boil.

Bandage the guy's leg.This is where it gets interesting:

Just as the second wrap of the bandage is done, you'll hear a soft whizzing sound...

Would you like to live?Yes

Then prove it.

No

Surgery failed.

Surgery #4 (Self Rescue) - Then Prove It.

Dull your pain by drinking your Deathwish Whiskey.

I have a will to live.

Keep tapping the spacebar with your free hand. If you have only one hand, then use a foot and keep tapping the spacebar. Use your other hand to do the surgery.

Bandage your leg.

Use the Saw.

Click the Saw on your leg once, then let go of the mouse button. Keep moving the saw left to right (preferrably from one end of the screen to the other) until you watch yourself moving your amputated leg while screaming in agony. You're done.

Achievements:

Apprentice

Complete Surgery #1.

Brain Surgeon

Complete Surgery #2.

Infection

Complete Surgery #3.

Master Surgeon

Complete Surgery #4.

Take the Pain

Complete Surgery when patient's lifeline is under 5. Usually achievable in Surgery #4.

Good Sport

Hit 100% Will To Live once in Surgery #4.

Town Drunk

In any surgery, when patient's Drunkeness meter is full, keep giving Whiskey.

Easter Egg

On title screen, click on the number 2 in the title Dark Cut 2.What the spoiler is:

Yeah, I found Dark Cut 2 to almost be impossibly too fast. Many times I had to play the first level about 10 times to get through it, mainly because of the cumbersome tool selection interface (sometimes tool wouldn't select, aiming improperly, etc). I think I gave up on that game by the second level.

Dark Cut 1 was far superior in terms of gameplay... If they could release a third game with the playability of the first and the graphics of the second, I'd be well pleased.

If Dark Cut 2 feels way too fast for you (as if the clock is ticking down too fast), here's a tip:

The countdown is not a clock but rather the patient's health. You'll notice that when you get the patient drunk at the beginning their..."drunk" meter goes up. As it drops, their vitals drop quicker and quicker (as they experience more pain).
If only there was a way to slow things down... ;)

Give them more booze throughout the surgery! Usually the time you waste pouring the drink is worth the time you save.

I played the first a while ago, but not the second. No anesthetic, no real sterilization; these games don't even give the option of faith healing for extra assistance like they do in Trauma Center.

These games are scarier because they're set in the past and actually show all the bodily fluids leaking out. Maybe next there'll be a game that has Phoenix Wright in the time of witch trials. (I'd play that)

Erbin, the same thing is happening to me, even after several reloads. I considered playing the whole thing through again on a different browser, but, considering the fourth level appears to be the last, I don't think it's worth it.

Incidentally, does anyone know what happens if you click the "No" option?

Erbin: I thought it was a bug, too but I did it again and just kept on hacking away -- eventually it finishes. I refilled the space bar/will to live bar about 4 times (to the top), and sawed all in between. Also keep in mind the white arrow directions that you get; and after that, I just sawed frantically back and forth...lol...you'll know when you get it right.

Jojo - I think there's a bug with the link, because it won't work for me either.

But I think it's working on Armorgames.com, if you want to try there. Link

As for the comparisons between Dark Cut 1 and Dark Cut 2:

Pros for 1: Simple to play. Get to cut off a vampire's head. Nicely paced. Nice, subtle music. Extremely inventive levels!
Cons for 1: Perhaps a bit too stringent on the "wrong" moves? Extremely hard to cut off the vampire's head. Graphics not as good as 2. Too short!
Pros for 2: AMAZING graphics. Wonderful music. Cool plot twist near the end! No penalizing for wrong moves! And the achievements, while somewhat difficult to obtain, makes it a bit more fun. :) Inventive levels are also a plus.
Cons for 2: Clumsy toolbar. Drunkeness meter, while a good idea, was not that helpful to gameplay, particularly when you had to waste ten seconds getting the patient completely drunk. A little hard to do some of the tasks (such as the syringe, which took me FOREVER!). (Nearly) impossible "will to live" spacebar thing, which I still haven't beaten. :(

There shouldn't be any more issues with the links. The reason for the problems earlier was due to Armor Games' switching over to a brand new site, layout and format, and many of their internal URLs have changed.

Finished Dark Cut 1, I can still bare the blood splatters. But the second, now this is different. It's as if I can feel the pain of alcohol burning my own wound, and it made my heart beat at double pace!

Jay, before I re-checked this page, I played (and completed) the one from newgrounds, so my guess is that it should work. I didn't know there was a new version of flash player out, but I'll update it tomorrow

On level 3, when I try to cut off the dead flesh, it does not come off, no matter where I click. I have been using the "snips", so if I am using the wrong tool or anyone knows what I am doing wrong, that would be great.

As usual, drug up your patient with a few shots of good old Deathwish Whiskey.

Use the Snips to cut the old bandages off the patient's leg.

Use the Scalpel and cut open the patient's first 'boil'.

Use the Forceps to pinch the maggots inside his leg.

One of the maggots will spray onto the screen (your face). Yech.

Use the Sponging Rag to wipe the remains of the larvae.

Use the Scalpel to open the second boil.

Pus will spray onto the screen again, at which you will move a hand up to wipe it off, along with the maggot's guts earlier. If you notice closely enough, you'll see blood on your fingers

Use the Sponging Rag to wipe the excess pus off.

Use the Syringe to extract the remaining pus in the second boil.

Bandage the guy's leg.This is where it gets interesting:

Just as the second wrap of the bandage is done, you'll hear a soft whizzing sound...

Would you like to live?Yes

Then prove it.

No

Surgery failed.

Surgery #4 (Self Rescue) - Then Prove It.

Dull your pain by drinking your Deathwish Whiskey.

I have a will to live.

Keep tapping the spacebar with your free hand. If you have only one hand, then use a foot and keep tapping the spacebar. Use your other hand to do the surgery.

Bandage your leg.

Use the Saw.

Click the Saw on your leg once, then let go of the mouse button. Keep moving the saw left to right (preferrably from one end of the screen to the other) until you watch yourself moving your amputated leg while screaming in agony. You're done.

Achievements:

Apprentice

Complete Surgery #1.

Brain Surgeon

Complete Surgery #2.

Infection

Complete Surgery #3.

Master Surgeon

Complete Surgery #4.

Take the Pain

Complete Surgery when patient's lifeline is under 5. Usually achievable in Surgery #4.

Good Sport

Hit 100% Will To Live once in Surgery #4.

Town Drunk

In any surgery, when patient's Drunkeness meter is full, keep giving Whiskey.

Easter Egg

On title screen, click on the number 2 in the title Dark Cut 2.What the spoiler is:

for dark cut 2, level 2, i can't slide the skull fragment back. i'm stuck there. i had the forceps and clickede on the star, clicked everywhere, clicked and held everywhere. i tried what i could. help.

i didn't have trouble with the skull fragment during previous attempts, it suddenly didn't want to move on my third attempt.

For Darkcut 1, I appreciate your spoiler, but could you please inform those of us who are still unable to get it as to which star is the "beginning star" and which direction to go after the first star? I've tried countless variations and the health still drops by 10 after the first star regardless of which direction I go.

I think that Dark Cut 2 is awesome, but it doesnt leave you nearly enough time to do anything. Even if you do it perfectly, its time consuming, 90 secs isnt enough time and its severely frustrating to the point where I turned the game off. Thats the one thing about this and Amateur Surgeon I didnt like. In A.S. it would take you to file 3 with new challenges and wouldn't tell you what to do, with Dark Cut, it just doesn't have enough time!

Does anyone know the melody in Dark Cut 1? Is it made for the game or I could find it somewhere? Can someone help? I think the music is good and mostly fit for such an atmosphere. I'd like to find it - the sound file - somewhere, does anyone know how or where? (can somebody leave a comment here if anyone knows?)

Why would they bother to make a sequel to this game? It had little to no instruction, made it very difficult to use the tools provided or even identify them, and the time elapsed ridiculously fast. What a waste of time.

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